We look out into the world seeking for beauty and meaning and truth, and yet, somehow, in all of our outward quests, we are always led and drawn inward, to ourselves. One way or the other, we reverse direction, and we end up looking deep within our soul, framed by the shape of our physical nature, and to find in our stark nakedness the utter beauty, the unfathomable mystery and the bare truth about life.

Year after year, and with clock-work precision, nature comes back to life. Just as when everything seems to have stopped, things start to move forward again. After a period of white hibernation, the world all around us sudden becomes infused with lush, vibrant and magnificent life. And then it goes again, season after changing season, the pattern weaving a grand story, and just as so we know, yet another leaf in our lives will turn.

From out of the ordinary and the common, I see a curious juxtaposition of lines, shapes and colors. I frame it in a photograph as a re-imaged reality that can only live in my imagination. A wall, a window, and a tree. Really, that’s all there is to it. And yet, it is everything.

I remember during the early days of television, when technology was nowhere near trinitron, that the black-and-white flickering images projected from electrically heated tubes were masked with a sheet of tri-colored plastic. It was a novelty, for sure, but the effect was somehow quite pleasing (although this is not to say that a few found it quite distracting.) It became popular. It was the analog world’s cheap imitation of color, and its widespread adoption served as somewhat of a precursor to the modern marvel that is today’s full-color digital TV sets. The fake color soon enough gave way to real color. In paying homage to that seemingly simple yet curious (and largely forgotten) interim innovation, I playfully adopted the tri-colored band to my fine art image of Chicago’s modern skyline, sandwiched between a band of sky and sea. I find the effect to be quite pleasing, and for a style that has been discarded years ago, it actually looks refreshing. Thanks to today’s powerful digital imaging technology, I no longer actually need to use a sheet of tri-colored plastic to shift the pixel’s colors.

Standing alone at the edge of a not-so-virgin forest, all I really see is nothing but a blur of connected shapes and colors. I know what I am seeing, and I know the vivid reality that it represents. And yet, I find it hard to grasp the faithfulness of what is actually laid bare in my line of sight. Beyond the fundamental realm of the real world, and above the theatricality of anything, from the trees to the sunset, in my mind’s eye, the sharpness of truth is a slice that is just somewhere there.

Cocooned in the dead of winter, I draw myself in and retreat from the overheated frenzy of the world around me. I do not slumber, I just step away from it all, slowly fading out of everyone’s consciousness. For the moment, I keep to myself in a secretive, inward reflection. I play in my mind all that has gone before, reframing the scenes of my experiences, because I know, when the sun comes out to thaw me in a seasonably warm embrace, I will be opened to my new self.

With razor-sharp focus on modern photography and digital imaging, these blogs contain valuable and meaningful information that targets specific audiences. Previously, all information were dumped on a single location. It was apparent, however, that he and his audience has outgrown it. “I was looking at a more organized way of presenting and sharing information and photographs on the net,” Dominique James said. “Breaking up the presentation into separate blogs was the logical and right thing to do.”

While these new blogs are distinct and separate, prominent links can be found in the homepage of all the new blogs. These links organically and strategically joins all the blogs. Visitors can quickly and easily move from one blog to another. This means that while online guests can focus on specific areas of interest, it is also a breeze to foray into, around, and out of each of the blogs.

These are the new weblogs:

• Dominique James, The Photographer – This is the official website of professional photographer Dominique James featuring diverse, creative and cutting-edge commissioned works that span portraiture, fashion, product, food, interior, architectural, landscape, travel and adventure digital imaging for a variety of advertising, commercial, corporate, entertainment, editorial and multimedia projects.
• Perfect Photo Pixels – This is a website that focuses on all things photography such as practical hints and tips, techniques and styles, equipment and gears, software and hardware, trade and industry news, and, groundbreaking developments and events for the benefit of photographers from hobbyists and enthusiasts to the semi-professionals and the professionals. This website serves information, knowledge and opinion about photography.
• Dominique James Stock Photography – As a showcase of Dominique James’ stock photography, the images here serve as a rich and potent visual device that not only expressly communicates ideas and emotions but also well-considered commentaries about the world we live in today. From wide angle shots to macro images, this is an exclusive look at our modern civilization as singularly seen through the eyes of professional photographer Dominique James.
• Dominique James Fine Art Photography – Constructing a new and exciting visual vocabulary that connects with the viewers in a different plane and at a different level, professional photographer Dominique James presents a series of intriguing fine art photographic images in this website. The non-literal fine art photographic images are personal and private explorations and visual expressions of feelings and thoughts.
• Dominique James: The Inside Stories – This is Dominique James’ intimate look into the fantastically singular but multi-dimensional world of photography. He digs deep and wide, and he explores photography in profusely unexpected ways. For the first time, Dominique James openly and candidly shares with you his innermost thoughts, views and feelings about the craft and art of photography.
• Dominique James: One Red Man – Personal rants, raves and musings on anything and everything that is “categorically” not about photography. Is there a better way for him to exorcise himself of bothersome demons than by candidly and publicly blogging (meaning, confessing) about it? He has favorite topics of course, but he casts a very wide net. Expect a surprising motley of subjects to be tackled here. Although Dominique James is aware that this blog can easily and quickly turn into something that is awfully self-indulgent, hang around because from out of the whole thing, some topics might just be of interest to you. In such cases, enjoy these precious common threads of interests.

Other than these new blogs, Dominique James maintains his presence at other sites on the net which includes The Playground, Inside Aperture, and Aperture Professional Users Network (AUPN). Likewise, he maintains an online gallery at Flickr and a mobile blog at Tumblr. And as a long-time fan of Apple, he is the vice chairman of the thriving online community, PhilMUG, together with its sister site, PodCentral.

In line with the introduction of these new blogs, the previous popular online presence of Dominique James at Blogspot, which he religiously maintained for four years, have been retired.

Dominique James is one of today’s finest professional photographers now based in the United States. His professional working experience spans more than 15 years. He is a Nikon Pro Photographer, an Epson Pro Photographer, and an Apple Certified Trainer for Aperture. Worldwide, he regularly conducts popular photography and modeling workshops, lectures and seminars.

Send Dominique James an email at dominiquejames@mac.com for inquiries, bookings, feedback and comments.

At first, I couldn’t see a thing. But after a while, the world that was mysteriously enveloped in darkness slowly revealed itself. I know, very soon, there will be the light of a new day. But just for an infinite moment, there is this light that only my soul can see.